Felix's party, having rescued the dwarven kingdom of Arala from a flying, strength
and level draining, rogue, chimeric shadowy servant of the god of Rakshasas, is
attempting to find and reclaim the legendary ancient dwarven tunnel system to
provide a safe passage between Cromwell and Arala. The hope is that if the tun-
nel is reopened, trade between those nations will pick up, and dwarven expatriates
will return home, shoring up the desperately thin defences of the oldest seat of
dwarven power in the New World.

Balinor, 9th level Northerner fighter, 86 hp, played by Joel
Morty, 7th/6th human fighter/thief (bard), 74 hp, played by Jay
Bodkin, 5th level dwarven fighter, 49 hp, played by Katherine
Robynne, 5th level woodsman, 38 hp, played by Rhonda
Tarplin, 8th/5th elf druid/mage, 30 hp, played by Alan
Morhion, 3rd level Northerner Nevronian cleric, 28 hp, henchman of Balinor

Leo, 4th level human Nevronian cleric, 25 hp, played by David (Jay this time)

(Events of 3/15/08 in Charlotte; Game world November-December 2192)

When we last left our party, they had just escaped a nasty trap set for them by grotto beasts in a complex outside of Barnacus and Seapoint, in the Farmin Mountains near the lands of the Blue and the Gray, the massive bandit group on Lendore.

Party Roster:

Rangorn, 7th level half-elf woodsman, 65 hp, played by Joel
Star, 6th level human cleric, 37 hp, played by Kyle
Zippo, 3rd level dwarf fighter, 34 hp, henchman of Star
Chiaroscuro, 7th level human illusionist, 22 hp, played by Aaron
Lewis, 2nd level human ranger, 20 hp, henchman of Star (played by Alex)
Madupe Fadupe, 2nd/3rd level gnome fighter/thief, 19 hp, played by Katherine
Minerva Moonstone, 3rd level half-elf mage, 14 hp, played by Katherine
Alisan, 1st level half-elf cleric, 8 hp, henchman of Rangorn
Magic Lad, 1st level cleric/illusionist, 6 hp, henchman of Chiaro

It’s an adventure of fantastically varying proportions! See the adventures of the little guys (Dwarfstar) and then full on power of the party (Superstar!).

[Events at Alex’s house in Ithaca; Real World Sept. 29, 2007; Telvar Dates Feb. – June 2192]

It was decided that since the lower level people were close to achieving levels in many cases, the best chance to get additional power before attempting a big mission would be to run the party without its leaders through a series of mini-encounters (a trick used by the BMT party a few games back).

The party had recently decided to christen itself “Superstar” rather than the previous informal moniker “Strangorn” which had morphed into “Strangiaro” and was fast approaching having to become something like “Strangiarva” or “Strangiarvupe.” What all these names had in common is that they were significantly more than just Star. In keeping with this, we chose a name that was “above and beyond” Star—Superstar!

Hopefully this will be an alternative to those boring standard desktops. Images are from the first and fourth Telvar Opens.

Felix, 10th level dwarven fighter, 100 hp, played by Alex
Rathbane, 7th/6th level dwarven fighter/cleric (Clangeddin), 54 hp, played by Katherine
Hendel, 9th level dwarven thief, 52 hp, played by Joel
Gates, 8th level dwarven cleric (Moradin), 52 hp, played by Aaron
Donald, 9th level coastlander mage, 48 hp, NPC
Aral, 2nd level Northerner woodsman, 27 hp, henchman of Felix

[Events of September 7-8, 2007 in Ithaca, NY; Telvar date: December 2189]

A somewhat short but very cool game session, played in Alex’s parents’ house down the hill from Cornell…

When we last left the party, Felix and Friends were trying to decide on further missions. Felix’s interest in restoring the glory of the dwarven kingdoms (or at least halting the decline) led him to seek out quests to benefit the kingdoms. Knowing we wanted something small, Felix needed to decide whether to help the Shabrundians, who were stagnant and at a crossroads as an empire, or to help Eralla, which was believed to be doomed with a hundred years (a single generation).

Some numbers for perspective:

The White Mountain dwarves (the only actually prosperous dwarven kingdom) number roughly fifteen thousand. The Eralla (I'll start spelling it Arala next time, as I apparently got it wrong, but didn't want to confuse readers...) dwarves number less then 250, although there another few hundred scattered about southern Cromwell who might well return in good times. The Eralla dwarves are resigned about their fate, and despite their ludicrous mineral and adamantite wealth, cannot grow. They are under constant assault from the gnolls, giants and derro dwarves that border them, as well as occasional hideous creatures from the Limgut’s kingdom, the Southern Wilderness, and the Pit. Additionally, whenever they really try to trade their wealth, an evil adventuring party takes note and assaults the place. Eralla is actually one of the oldest dwarven kingdoms, thought to be more than 15000 years old, but has been under siege for at least the last 5000 or so.

It really is a grim setup. Felix decided to do what he could to help. One smaller scale mission was to clear a mine shaft that had been abandoned to monsters a while ago, and open some more convenient wealth. But this isn’t really Eralla’s fundamental problem, and Felix found a more satisfying alternative.

I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable. – Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)

Session 63 from 7-Mar-2194; Session 64 from 11-May-2194; Session 65 from 10-Jun-2194;
Session 66 from 1-Jul-2194; Session 67 from 16-Jul-2194; Session 68 from 8-Oct-2194

Talarian Blackguard (Half Elven) Fighter 7 - 68 HP, played by Dean Ne.
Raybur Sidebottom (Dwarven) Fighter 6/Cleric 6 - 64(54) HP, played by Dean Ne.
Phyllis Sidebottom (Dwarven) Fighter 7 - 64(54) HP, played by Katherine An.
Effrede George (Half Elven) Magic User 6/Thief 6 - 34 HP, played by Katherine An.
Conrhia Applewhite (Half Elven) Woodsman 7 - 68 HP, played by Rhonda Jo.
Serlisse Reintar (Half Elven) Druid 7 - 32 HP, played by Rhonda Jo.
Sputnik (Half Elven) Cleric 7 - 49 HP, played by Jay Ba.
Arthur of Petethal (Half Elven) Ranger 6 - 58 HP, played by David Bj.
Zephram Trent (Hill Gnome) Fighter 5/Illusionist 5 - 41 HP, played by Alan Jo.
Shirlard (Half Orkish) Fighter 5 - 44 HP, played by Darleen Ba.
Costigan (Coastlander) Fighter 1//Cleric 3 - 35(25) HP, played by Rodger He.

[Session 67]

July 16 and 17, 2194
Talarian beats a leaping lizard. (Lizard 1)
Phyllis beats a Stone Giant easily. (Humanoid 2)
Arthur fails miserably and loses 3 possible Raises on Lizard 1.
Raybur beats a Stone Giant fairly easily (Humanoid 2)
Fred Webs, Magic Missiles and backstabs Lizard 1 to death.
Conrhia turns a Stone Giant into an arrow caddy. (H2)
Zephram defeats his raptor. (L1)
Sputnik uses a lot of spells to buff under Sanctuary and then blinds his poor raptor. (L1)

Two basic actions that should happen in the next few years include finding out what the Har-daways know about the opposition (including now out of date maps etc...) and finding out what the Hardaway clan’s resources are. Determining what the maximum, acceptable and minimal (some sanctions will have to be leveled, I presume) rules of engagement should also occur.

Felix, 9th level dwarven fighter, 87 hp, played by Alex
Rathbane, 6th/6th level dwarven fighter/cleric (Clangeddin), 51 hp, played by Katherine
Donald, 9th level coastlander mage, 48 hp, NPC (played by Alan this time!)
Hendel, 8th level dwarven thief, 47 hp, played by Joel
Gates, 7th level dwarven cleric (Moradin), 44 hp, played by Jay
Aral, 1st level Northerner woodsman, 17 hp, henchman of Felix (played by Rhonda this time!)

[Events of March 3-4, 2007; Game World June-December 2189, in Charlotte]

The Dwarves of Eralla

When we last left the Felix party, they had just arrived at South Village at the southern tip of Cromwell, a nice little village with a river that leads up into the mountain ranges. From there, a two week trek up a trail through the forest would lead the party to the remnants of the dwarven kingdom of Eralla. There the party would apparently attempt to solve a problem of a summoning gone wrong involving a shadow creature that threatened the dwarves.

Felix’s party (as of 2189):
Felix, Dwarf Fighter 9
-Aral, Northerner Woodsman 1, henchman
Donald, Human Mage 9
Hendel, Dwarf Thief 8
Gates, Dwarf Cleric 7 (Moradin)
Rathbane, Dwarf Fighter 6/Cleric 6 (Clangeddin)

This is Arthur's sketch of the Ancient Artists' Resort with some details of each location. Updated 11/16/2006.

[Events of 9/9/06 in Charlotte; Game world July-November 2192]

As mentioned in the BMT primer, the party had two main goals:

-Acquire treasure, XP.
-Pass very little game world time to allow Felix/Donald to catch up.

Things were a smashing success… but not without consequences.

(The adventure is somewhat episodic, so I’ve divided it into sections—perhaps I should have done this before!)